Water Runs Out in the Brno Region: Residents Respond to Conservation Call by Using a Third More

In the Czech villages of Domašov, Rudka and Rzhychky, part of the Domašovsko Voluntary Association of Municipalities, the local water tower has run completely dry, and drinking water now has to be delivered to residents by tanker trucks. This was announced by Tomáš Pytroha, chairman of the association.

Back on July 30, the association, which is responsible for supplying water to these communities, issued an urgent appeal asking residents to conserve water — not to water their gardens, wash their cars or fill swimming pools. The appeal warned that the local borehole had stopped producing water and the well had only a limited supply, and that if the situation didn't change, the reservoirs would run completely dry within a few days, cutting off drinking water even for households.

Instead of saving water, however, the opposite happened: consumption actually rose by 60–80 cubic metres, a substantial jump for local usage. The water utility's warning came true just this past Monday — in a statement signed by Pytroha, it was reported: "Our call went unheard. We must now inform you that the water tower is empty."

"The water keeps dropping, and the sources aren't limitless. We have a borehole from 1959 that dried up for the first time last year. This year it's not completely dry, but the water level has fallen below the pumps. And as for people using more water — what kind of punishment is that supposed to bring?" Pytroha remarked rhetorically.

According to him, people probably needed to water their withering lawns or stock up on water. "I don't know exactly what happened, but consumption simply spiked. Now all we can do is wait for rain — it won't raise the groundwater level, but it will cut consumption, because people will stop watering," the association chairman explained.

To ensure that the roughly 1,400 subscribers don't find themselves without running water, a tanker truck now regularly delivers drinking water to the local water tower. "We'll keep bringing water in — over the weekend, it will most likely be handled by the fire brigade. How people treat nature is how nature treats people back — and that goes for the whole world," Pytroha concluded.

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Around Prague, based on reporting by novinky.cz